White sandy beaches and gently waving palm trees - all set against a rolling ocean. Are we cruising around the Med, holidaying in the Canaries or cast away on a Caribbean island? No! We’re much closer to home in the wonderful Isles of Scilly. Loved and feared in almost equal measure by sailors throughout history, what is it that makes the islands such a wonderful (but nerve-wracking) sailing destination?

That time has rolled around again. The time that we set off South from Falmouth to enter a world that time forgot. The time that we step back into a history when traditional sail ruled the waves and when sailors home from the sea would gather to drink good beer, sing great songs and tell tall tales. Skipper Nic spills the beans on the 10 things that drag them back to the Brest Maritime Festival and Douarnenez Temps Fete double-header time and time again…

One of the first recipes that we tried out when we started to introduce more plant-based meals to Amelie Rose’s galley, this fabulous vegetarian bolognaise sauce has become a firm favourite with all our crews. Easily upgradable to fully vegan with the replacement of the cheese and cream with plant-based options it has a real depth of flavour and is surprisingly quick to knock up.

In the last article we looked at ways to get our boats heading backwards without offering too much entertainment to the harbour-side gawkers. However, the vast majority of us are going to feel far happier when we’ve got our little ships heading the “right” way once more. This time, as our series on close quarters boat handling under engine continues, the Skipper tackles turning around.

Lunches under-way are always a bit of a conundrum; ideally they need to be hot on a cold day, cold on a hot day, tasty on any day but also hand-held and not too tricky to put together in a galley that persists in moving around. Our Houmous, Halloumi and Chilli Wraps are just the ticket - and can be prepared in advance if you want them cold or slapped together with halloumi hot from the pan if the crew look in need of a handwarmer or two...

Ex-guest and (still) friend of Amelie Rose, John Huber, recounts his experience of joining us for our now infamous (in the Skipper's mind anyway) voyage to the Brest Maritime festival in 2012. The preceeding three days of strong winds and big seas made our blue skies and gentle beam reach down the Chanel du Four all the sweeter it appears, and the run to Douarnenez was the cherry on the cake...

In the last Skills School we discussed ways to extract ourselves from our alongside berth without undue drama. But still we’ve got to work our way out to the fairway buoy before we can stow our fenders with confidence. Continuing our series on handling long-keel boats under engine, let us begin to look at some techniques that will see us out to sea with the minimum of fuss, beginning with that nemesis of all long-keel boat skippers; reversing.

Sustainability has been at the heart of Topsail Adventures since we started the company back in 2006 but as the years have gone by and the climate crisis has deepened, we’ve learned more about what actions we can take in order to further protect our fragile planet. As Natural England and the Environment Agency warn that 2020 is the “last chance” to bring the world together to tackle climate change we have decided to review and re-publish our sustainability policy and seek out suggestions as to how we can do more.

Reading Rebecca Sykes’ article about sailing aboard the Amelie Rose as a woman got the skipper to thinking about inclusivity in general and how important it is to us at Topsail Adventures. It’s our view that we should ensure that the experience of sailing aboard the Amelie Rose is available to everyone and anyone, regardless of their race, age, sexuality, religion, disabilities, or gender identity and expression. With this in mind we have for the first time created and published a specific policy and made some changes to our booking documentation.